So what the hell am I going to do now?

This is the excerpt for your very first post.

These are my two baby birds that are getting ready to fledge. As you can see, their mouths are still wide open, needing college tuition, food, money, new clothes, $350 tennis shoes (as if!), cash, cars, new tires, insurance… sigh…

Now that they’re getting ready to leave the nest, most of that open-mouthed squawking will come through text messages and phone calls but they’ll still be coming in a stream – loud and fast and incessant.

So good for them. I’m going to enjoy watching them fly. Distant bird calls and chirps will be my favorite part of the day.

But while they’re out there flying, the big question is now what the hell am I going to do with all this extra time?

Anything I want! If you’re a like-minded mom with fledglings, come join me. You’re going to need a laugh while you’re shelling out college tuition and worrying about your fledgling being eaten by an owl. I’m going to explore all the many things we can do now that we have the nest to ourselves.

You might be sharing your nest with a Daddy Bird who is bringing home the worms. Or like me, you might be doing all the hunting and fishing yourself. I hope you’re not stuck with a Daddy Bird that you don’t like anymore – or who just eats and poops in your nest while you do all the work – if so, we’re going to figure out how to either get him motivated or if nothing else, get rid of HIM. Fast!

Like me, you might be looking down at your Mama Bird body thinking “Oh crap when did that happen?” You might need to leave off the worms and go for the lean fish. Spruce up your feathers, so to speak.

We’re going to talk a lot about that.

Like me, you may be looking around your nest going “Man this place is too big and too full of poop. I need to downsize. I need to throw all the fledgling crap overboard and make room for my new [knitting room, art studio, tattoo parlor, you-fill-in-the-blank…]” “Or better yet, sell this place and get a nice new small nest with softer grass.”

We’re going to talk about that.

Like me, you may be wondering what to do with all your new time. Plow it into your career that has been limping along while you run back and forth to the needs of your baby birds? Start a whole new career? Take up knitting and open a yarn shop? Take a cooking class and sell cakes out of your house? Go back to school and get that degree in Nuclear Physics you always wanted? Sit on your ass and read smutty romance novels?

We’re going to talk about that too.

This is a new life for us, whether we want it or not. It can be a good and fulfilling life or it can be miserable. We have to decide to make it good. And we have to figure out how to get there. So here goes. I hope you enjoy this. I hope it will give you a reason to laugh through the tears as you’re packing up your baby girl’s college suitcase. I hope it will give you some comfort as you’re slipping your favorite Longchamps tote into that suitcase, just because she loves it so.

Time for Us!

We are watching our baby birds fledge, not knowing what we will become. Our homes, our lives, our worlds have centered around our children. Now we have time to grow, time to explore, time to change, time to shine!